Beware - Goldcar Car Rentals Spain

On the last Thursday in August, I arrived with my girlfriend and her son at Arrecife airport in Lanarote and picked up the keys for a Toyota Yaris from a blonde English girl in her 20s in Goldcar’s airport office (as we were first to pick up our luggage, there was no-one else waiting to pick up a car, so no queue). I had purchased full insurance for the rental of the car at the time of booking through the website I used - Atlaschoice. I examined the car, which had not been cleaned and noticed that the rear panel that runs from one side of the boot to the other under the rear lights was not affixed properly, as a result of - presumably - a previous driver reversing and hitting a high pavement or similar (there were scratches on the paintwork to this effect). I took photos of the damage and the gap where the fixing was not flush and went to show the rep at the office (I had not been given any form to mark damage to the vehicle). She asked if I had my own insurance and when I said I had, she said there would be no problem if I had photographic evidence of the fault before I drove the car. As I did, I foolishly accepted her word for it. On Tuesday 30th August, I was driving the car and heard a knocking sound - the panel on one side had come out of its fixings and was loose. Some bumpy roads had dislodged it and strong winds were knocking it against the car. I was headed past the airport so stopped in to get them to either fix this problem or replace the car. A different rep - a Spanish Zinedine Zidane lookalike - examined the car and told me that as I had my own insurance I had to get the car fixed and claim it back. He completely refused to believe the car had been issued to me with a fault and was not interested in my photographic evidence. I was surprised, and simply put the panel back in its fixings as it had been when I collected it. I had no intention of going through the hassle of getting the car repaired and having to reclaim the cost from the insurers for damage I was not responsible for.

On September 1st 2016, we were headed home and drove to the airport, fortunately in good time for our flight. I returned the car, ensuring the panel was as I had collected it - and took more photos. Before I went to return the keys I foresaw potential problems - my suspicions had been aroused by another driver I had spoken to about the company’s reputation and the attitude shown when I brought the car in to show them the consequences of their issuing it as it had been confirmed I would need as much proof as possible. I intended to video (on my iPhone) my handing over the keys and my informing the staff the car was as I had collected it, with the faulty panel. There was a queue of people waiting to (I assume) collect rental cars, and only two staff, but as soon as the Zidane lookalike spotted me, he grabbed an iPad and we went to examine the car. He seemed very keen, almost smelling blood. I filmed him as he ripped away the rear panel from its fixings and told me I had not fixed the fault – continuing his refusal to acknowledge, in spite of my photographic evidence - that the car was given to me in the same condition. I requested he phone his colleague that issued me the car to get her to confirm to him that I had notified her of the fault the previous Thursday but he refused to do this. What I should have done was to get her to put something in writing at the time but hindsight is a wonderful thing and at that stage of a long journey, your mind is not quite as on the ball as it should be. Anyway, he objected to me videoing him ripping the panel away and said he would call the police. He physically mandhandled me when I refused to give him the phone to delete the video and at that stage I became verbally aggressive and told him to get them by all means. I returned to my girlfriend who was waiting in the terminal with the luggage and managed to transfer the video to my laptop while he was getting hold of the police. So after making the transfer, I allowed him to delete the video on the phone (although I could later recover it from the deleted folder anyway). In reality, the video was not high quality as the car park was fairly dingy, but he was not to know this. He asked me to write down my version of events on a form which he then refused to photocopy for me - it was not even signed and there were no other details on the form that I filled in. I took phone photos of the form instead. I feared the worst and that my credit card would be charged most of the 1100 euros deposit I had to leave on picking up the car as I had no need for Goldcar’s own insurance. However, I had my evidence and was ready to fight.

The following day, I attempted to phone the Goldcar office at the airport in the hope of getting hold of the English girl that had issued me with the car, partly just to get a name, even if she would not confirm our conversation. I got through to a call centre, they asked for my booking reference and was told that the case was closed and that I would be getting my 1100 euros deposit back. I was still charged 55 euros for using half a tank of petrol, but reading the accounts of others, considered I had got off lightly. Three days later, the deposit has been returned to my credit card as available to spend, so it does look like they dropped the case. My suspicion is that my statement, indicating before and after photographic evidence, and my videoing of the rep ripping the panel away made them decide against trying it on in this instance. I also think that this car has been rented more than once with the fault and that, as it can be patched up to look almost ok to anyone not inspecting the car properly, it is being used to charge people who have their own insurance from their 1100 euro deposit after they have dropped the car off – assuming that the panel has stayed in place for the duration of the hire. And the repair not even being done.

I was lucky I had the presence of mind to examine the car thoroughly before driving it, and take photos, then take more photos on my return and video the rep ripping off the panel – and him coming to do that was probably only a consequence of my coming in two days before to report the result of hiring me a car with this fault. Reading all the online accounts of victims’ experiences of this company, it looks like others have been more trusting and less fortunate. The long and short of it though is that I should never have accepted the car in the first instance. It had not been cleaned and was not fit for purpose. The Goldcar rep denied they would ever allow a car out in this condition, which is simply a lie. But it appears that deceit is the stock in trade of Goldcar. Unfortunately, some car hire rental sites do not inform you of who you are actually renting from before you make the booking. In future, I will not book on these, unless I am informed in advance who the company hiring out the vehicle is, in case I get Goldcar. I expect to get stung for a tank of overpriced petrol. But not to pay hundreds for damage I did not commit, even if I am able to claim it back through a third party insurance policy. So I entirely agree with so many posters on this and other websites – never, ever, rent from Goldcar.